Selectmen, not administrator will choose next lieutenant

CLINTON — Selectmen are preparing to appoint a new police lieutenant, but will adapt their procedure.

The three candidates include one who is related to Town Administrator Michael Ward, who would ordinarily make the appointment to fill the open position.

Under the circumstances, Town Solicitor Robert Gibbons and Ward recommended the Board of Selectmen take on the appointment.

Selectmen voted Wednesday night to do that, planning to review information on the three candidates and make the appointment at the board's Jan. 8 meeting.

Gibbons said all three candidates have gone through a detailed assessment center interview and review process for the position and the results of those independent evaluations will be available for selectmen. If they wish, they can also interview the candidates.

But Gibbons said that was not necessary.

"The whole point of the assessment center is to take that out," Gibbons added.

The police chief will also be available for any questions, he said.

Gibbons recommended the board take the appointment authority back for this one instance.

"If there is any issue with the town administrator being related, it takes that out of the mix," Selectman James LeBlanc said.

Executive session

Selectmen went into an executive session to discuss with Gibbons a situation regarding pay issues for two town employees.

Chairman Bill Connolly Jr. said the issue concerned approval by the Council on Aging for two staff members to act as co-directors, while maintaining their original jobs, during roughly 10 weeks after the previous senior director resigned.

The director's salary was split evenly between the two, but the result was that "one was making substantially more than the previous director, who had been there for 10 years," Connolly said.

The town accountant expressed concern, he noted, and the town solicitor had reservations as well about the appropriateness.

Although he said it was not a reflection on the Council on Aging personnel, it was "an example of how the decentralized system" leads to problems. Connolly said people without experience in human resources or legal issues should run those decisions through the town administrator.

The system "can get us into trouble repeatedly," Connolly said.

Gibbons said the two employees have not been paid the extra salary, and said there are issues on both sides, the employees' and the town's.

He sought to discuss the issue, including the town's legal exposure, with selectmen.